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Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

I have a package of bees coming on the 20th of April. This is my second package to install. Last year I waited three days to the let queen lose, I have a local beekeeper who says to wait 7 days. I'm also reading on immediate release as these bees will travel from California to Nebraska then I will have to go pick them up with is about a 2 hour drive from home. I know this has been discussed before but I can't seem to find the article on it to read. What's everyones opinion.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

put a little bit of vanilla extract in a spray bottle with very light syrup to make them all smell alike and be a little bit sticky and leave three frames out to make room. release her at the bottom of the frames so she can run under and into the bees instead of flying off. Then replace the frames. The longer that queen is in the box, the longer til she is back to laying eggs.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

The one and only time i did a direct release the queen flew off, and did an aerial tour of the hive. She finally made it back into the hive. I pull the cork and let them eat the candy out to release the queen. If i want if faster I will, very gently, remove most of the candy.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

I like direct release but you do have to be extremely careful that she doesn't fly off, I let her loose at the bottom of the hive after I have dumped all the bees in. To be safe, leave her in the cage and take the cork out of the candy end and put a small finishing nail hole in the candy, don't stab the queen with the nail. John

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

Direct release will increase your abscond rate by about double...... 3 days gives them time to start some comb, and most swarms seems to take 1-2 days to be convinced its the right location. so all the scout bees are done working buy the time the queens out.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

In recent years I've seen a lot of moving next door to a better queen, so I've experimented more with releasing and not release. I see no difference in the likelihood. Actually more moved next door from the ones that were caged, but I think that was just a statistical anomaly. I'm sure there isn't any real difference. The real difference is getting a wild comb on the queen cage. With foundation, this wastes one comb. With foundationless, it can result in every comb being messed up if you don't straighten things out quickly.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

I installed 2 packages Monday evening and when checking on things Tues. afternoon I poked a hole thru the candy with a small screwdriver. The bees were covering all frames & i could see the beginning of comb being drawn out on several frames. Since they were not all clustered around the queen I figured it was safe to speed up the process. She is sandwiched between two frames with honey, pollen & plenty of open cells. New frames with foundation everywhere else.
Packages were picked up Saturday in Georgia so I figure they have been with the queen for 3 or 4 days already?!
This is my first experience with packages so if my reasoning is off please let me know?!!

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

I have never seen bees ball a direct released queen. I don't recommend doing it because of the fly off factor.. Watch the threads around here this time of year and you will see dozens of people who direct released looking for replacement queens.

I voted 7 days because I don't go back into a new hive for a week after install... By then the queen is released, but if I ever found one that wasn't I would release at that point.

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

Why would they abandon the queen?? Do you mean they would just ignore her ?

The queen may not be mated and other things enter into the pic. soooo many things that can go wrong.

The reason I say this is the dealer we get our packages from gets 1,800 packages on a load, think about what went on during produceing this load - how many people are involved in produceing the load - that is 1,800 queens that have been "picked" from mateing nucs, think about the time involved. All in all the package busness produce good bees, BUT once in a while you get a "dud" most suppliers have extra queens to cover that.

We did switch dealers once because the last time we bought from them we had 10% dead queens off the truck NOT GOOD.

Ok enough wtih my rant install you bees the way that looks best for you and HAVE FUN

Ed, KA9CTT profanity is IGNORANCE made audible
you can`t fix stupid not even with duct tape

Re: Packaged bee's queen release (immediate, 3 days, 7 days)

>Why would they abandon the queen??

My first guess is she is a virgin. My second is she is poorly mated. My third is she is poorly developed from not being fed well, and my fourth is that she was banked too soon after she started laying. Any of these would cause that problem.

>Do you mean they would just ignore her ?

I mean they move next door.

> What if she began to lay eggs? Would she do that if they were not taking care of her?